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Saturday, September 26, 2009

justify the things you do

Today was so good.Let's start with dinner! I made some lasagna spinach rolls up, inspired by this recipe, which I completely tweaked and made my own.

Mario Batali=hero! This sauce is great: all basic ingredients you can pronounce, short list, no preservatives or extra sugar. Just pure food.

My mixture included whole milk ricotta. Now, normally, I WOULD go ahead and use the part-skim variety, but then there are times when I just want something that is as close to the source as it can get. All of those fat free and low fat food items are much more handled and processed. That isn't to say I don't utilize them! Because I do! I actually buy fat-free organic milk and yogurt.

However, here is an interesting passage from Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food:

Page 153-154:

Very often food science's efforts to make traditional foods more nutritious make them much more complicated, but not necessarily any better for you. To make dairy products low fat, it's not enough to remove the fat. You then have to go to great lengths to preserve the body or creamy texture by working in all kinds of food additives. In the case of low-fat or skim milk, that usually means adding powdered milk. But powdered milk contains oxidized cholesterol, which scientists believe is much worse for your arteries than ordinary cholesterol, so food makers sometimes compensate by adding antioxidants, further complicating what had been a simple one-ingredient whole food. Also, removing the fat makes it that much harder for your body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that are one of the reasons to drink milk in the first place.

But for this dish, I wanted something untouched, for the most part. It had ricotta cheese, a shredded cheese Italian blend, organic portabella mushrooms, and s/p. I used whole wheat lasagna, of course!They were so cute! A before and after going in and out of the oven!

mmmm cheesy and bubbly..

On the side we enjoyed toasted Ezekial 7 grain bread. A bit on the expensive side, but worth it.

The rest are some random pictures we took before going out for dessert!

3
comments:

Oh and I thought of you the other day: my mum was in ICU for a couple of days after having an internal carotid artery stent put in (long story!) and the ICU nurses looking after her were so amazing and knowledgeable! I was in awe and thought, "aha! so this is what Nicole is passionate about!" :-P

About Me

I'm Nicole, a 28 year old Registered Nurse, BSN with a passion for all things health and balance. This blog has gone through many transformations and I have now accepted it as a hodge-podge of my life, consisting of food, fitness, nursing life, and a place to share. This journal was created a few years back to chronicle my journey through nursing school. I have since graduated and now work in the ICU. Currently, I am in the process of earning my Master's degree to become a Family Nurse Practitioner.
Enjoying a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle, although difficult at times, is my on-going and ultimate goal!
As a side note, all stories are composites of different patients, doctors, nurses, and situations. Details about stories have been changed to protect patient and healthcare worker identities. If any story sounds familiar to you, it is simply coincidence. Stories are fabricated for entertainment.